Examining the condition of liberal arts in America's public
schools.

Scratch the surface of nearly every educator and you will find
someone who believes that every child should be taught the liberal
arts. They may call it by another name—a "well-rounded" course of
study, for example—but the concept is the same: A first-rate
education has breadth as well as depth. Young people should learn more
than just a handful of fundamental skills. In fact, they should pursue
the whole range of studies commonly said to constitute a liberal
education, including not just reading, math, and the sciences, but also
writing, literature, history, civics, geography, the arts, and foreign
languages.

Increasingly, however, the nation’s educators are being forced
to squeeze and trim the curriculum, abandoning the shared ideal of a
well-rounded education in order to fit the requirements of the No Child
Left Behind Act. Faced with budget cuts, competing demands for time,
and pressures for compliance, educators have backed away from
implementing a truly comprehensive vision of educational excellence,
one that includes all the subjects of the liberal arts. In the absence
of such a vision, our most powerful reform efforts are pitting
fundamental academic disciplines against each other in a struggle for
scarce resources in which the big losers are students.

Because it holds schools accountable for student performance in just
three areas—mathematics, reading, and eventually
science—the federal No Child Left Behind legislation creates a
powerful disincentive to teach other subjects. And with the
states’ fiscal crises ongoing, the pressure only becomes more
intense for schools and districts to abandon whole parts of the
curriculum so as to focus their scarce resources on test-related
topics.

Yet aside from the occasional media report of cuts to arts and
foreign-language programs, the danger of curricular erosion has
received scant attention from researchers, journalists, or the public.
Until recently, there has been little research to confirm or allay
fears that students are beginning to miss out on the intellectual
foundations of civic life, art, culture, and more.

To address this concern, the Council for Basic Education recently
conducted a study to determine how much access our nation’s
students now have to a complete curriculum in the liberal arts. With
support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and substantial help
from the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the
National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the American
Association of School Administrators, the council surveyed public
school principals in Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, and New York about
what is happening to the curriculum in their own schools. ( "Principals' Poll Shows Erosion of
Liberal Arts Curriculum," March 17, 2004.)

Roughly 1,000 principals responded to the survey, providing ample
evidence that the assessment and accountability regimen required by the
No Child Left Behind law has indeed begun to undermine the
schools’ commitment to a number of core fields of study,
including the arts, foreign languages, and elementary social studies,
civics, and geography.

The overall curriculum in public schools appears to be
narrowing at an alarming rate.

On a positive note, three-quarters of principals reported that
instructional time for reading, writing, and mathematics has increased,
while a similar majority also reported increased opportunities for
teachers to hone their skills and knowledge in these areas. Close to
half the principals reported increased instructional time for science,
and even larger numbers project such increases over the next two
years.

However, while these courses are receiving greater emphasis, the
overall curriculum appears to be narrowing at an alarming rate. For
example, elementary school principals reported decreases in
instructional time for social studies, civics, and geography. Nearly
three in 10 principals overall (29 percent) reported decreases in time
for social studies, compared with 21 percent who reported
increases.

The most troubling evidence of curricular erosion occurred in
schools with large minority populations, the very populations whose
access to a full liberal arts curriculum has been historically most
limited. Nearly half (47 percent) of principals in high-minority
schools reported decreases in elementary social studies. More than four
in 10 (42 percent) anticipated decreases in instructional time for the
arts, and nearly three in 10 (29 percent) foresaw decreases in
instructional time for foreign language.

These findings raise the specter of a new kind of opportunity gap in
which low-income minority students are being excluded from the liberal
arts curriculum that their more privileged counterparts receive as a
matter of course. In our effort to close achievement gaps in literacy
and math, we have substituted one form of educational inequity for
another, denying our most vulnerable students the kind of curriculum
available routinely to the wealthy.

The Council for Basic Education’s study did identify a few
promising trends, particularly in higher grades. Principals in middle
and high schools are allotting more instructional and
teacher-professional-development time to social studies, civics, and
geography. Principals interviewed for the study suggested that events
such as 9/11 and the Iraq war have strengthened schools’
commitment to these subjects. Such signs of schools’ devotion to
urgent priorities that receive little support from the current
accountability system are truly heartening.

In the long run, however, we must make the entire liberal arts
curriculum our priority. Though some educators might argue that
persistent underperformance in basic reading and mathematics warrants a
particular concentration on those two areas, such arguments should not
lead us to treat the arts, foreign languages, and other subjects as
expendable.

Indeed, at a time when the explosion of multimedia technologies
compels us to expand our very notion of literacy to include visual and
even auditory literacy, the arts have become particularly relevant. And
in an era of both global trade and global terror, it should go without
saying that our students must become proficient in foreign
languages.

Life in the 21st century has become very complex, and the
educational requirements for success have grown accordingly. No one can
dispute the magnitude of changes we will see in the course of any
student’s lifetime. Job skills are changing at an accelerating
rate. Political and economic events across the globe have a profound
effect on our prosperity and security at home. Because the liberal arts
span the domains of human experience, they afford the best foundation
for the diverse challenges that confront us in this rapidly evolving
world.

A liberal arts education returns us to first
principles, fostering an understanding of what it means to be
human.

At the same time, a liberal arts education returns us to first
principles, fostering an understanding of what it means to be human, an
understanding that transcends limiting conceptions of occupation,
social class, race, or nationality. An education once reserved for the
most privileged has therefore become a necessity for all. As soon as we
sacrifice one or more academic subjects to budgetary constraints,
apathy, or the demands of an assessment and accountability regimen, we
limit students’ opportunities after graduation. In a society
founded on equality, such sacrifices are unconscionable.

Meanwhile, research clearly demonstrates that social studies and
civics content can enhance elementary reading instruction by developing
beginning readers’ comprehension skills. By establishing relevant
and engaging contexts for reading and mathematics, high-quality
instruction in all the liberal arts subjects supports learning in those
fundamental skill areas.

Educators and policymakers can take specific measures to protect the
complete curriculum without abandoning the objectives of the No Child
Left Behind Act. They can integrate the liberal arts into strategies
for raising students’ mathematics and reading scores. They can
better equip teachers to carry out this integration in the classroom.
They can begin developing long-term plans for incorporating strong
standards and challenging assessments in all the liberal arts subjects
to assure the integrity of the curriculum.

Most important, educators and policymakers must maintain an
explicit, comprehensive vision of educational excellence and track
progress toward that vision. Despite its potential to narrow the K-12
curriculum, the No Child Left Behind law has actually laid much of the
groundwork for this vision. For one, the law has helped establish the
need to hold all students to high academic expectations as a
civil rights issue. Furthermore, it has publicly confirmed the
importance of paying careful attention to all students’
progress toward those expectations, lest we turn a blind eye to
persistent educational inequities.

Yet, the No Child Left Behind Act may turn out to be a Pyrrhic
victory if we define its vision for achievement too narrowly and thus
institutionalize long-term academic mediocrity and inequity.

Raymond “Buzz” Bartlett is the president and Claus
von Zastrow is the director of institutional advancement at the Council
for Basic Education, in Washington.

Raymond “Buzz” Bartlett is the president and Claus von
Zastrow is the director of institutional advancement at the Council for
Basic Education, in Washington.

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